Mac gripe

Don't get me wrong, I love the mac. But for a mutli-media computer
aimed at artists etc there is no sound recording app included with
OSX and the ones out there on the net are not free. Even Microsoft
provides a free audio (microphone is what I was looking for) capture
tool -- sure its crappy but for the basics it works. I just wanted to
send an audio note to my 7 year old and couldnt do it on the mac. At
least not for free...